Every year on October 1st , the world comes together to celebrate coffee and recognize the millions of people across the globe –聽from farmers, to roasters, baristas, coffee shop owners聽and more聽聽– who work hard to create and聽serve the beverage we all love.
Since 1983 this day has been commemorated as International Coffee day around the world where coffee is being produced and consumed. The first official date was October 1st of 2015, as agreed by the聽International Coffee Organization聽and was launched in Milan. This day is also used to promote聽fair trade coffee聽and to raise awareness for the plight of the coffee growers.
Coffee has never been more popular,聽with an estimated 3 billion cups consumed聽every day, a number which continues to rise.聽The diverse mix of global celebrations that take place on International Coffee Day truly showcase coffee as one of the world鈥檚 most loved beverages.
What does it takes to make a cup of Coffee?
It has never been more popular and there have never been more ways to drink coffee; lattes, Frappuccino鈥檚, drip, cold brew, and of course聽espresso聽to name a few. But what does it take to make a聽cup of coffee? To start with, there are聽seven聽stages聽that form the coffee making process, from聽‘bean to cup’:聽Picking,聽Washing,聽Drying,聽Grading,聽Roasting,聽Cupping聽and of course,聽Enjoying.
At each of these stages there are specially-trained people, each with their own expertise, who play an聽important聽role聽in coffee’s production. Coffee impacts so many people’s lives, for many it聽is聽a聽passion聽but for even more it is the livelihood聽on which they depend.
Whilst this is a time for celebration, leading up to and during ICD each year, we also need to focus on how to continue to improve coffee鈥檚 future. At present, in spite of growing demand, coffee faces a dramatic聽issue, as the聽prices that producers聽receive聽today are more than 30% below the average of the last ten years, threatening the livelihoods of coffee聽farmers and聽their聽families.
This is a good day to recognize the hard work done daily by the producers of coffee. They make it possible for us to enjoy a nice cup of coffee every day.
No matter the time of the day a cup of coffee is always welcome!!
